How Your Blog Can Help You Get a Job
Hiya kids! Today’s post is something completely different, and it starts with one exciting announcement: I HAVE A NEW JOB. And not just any old job; I have landed, and believe me that I’m not exaggerating, my dream job. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be starting in a PR role at a well-known cosmetics company, and I couldn’t be any happier. Firstly, a part of the reason I’m telling you all this because I’m SO EXCITED and basically want to tell the whole world (even the woman in Greggs was nearly told when I first found out). But also, I know for a fact that there’s no way I would have got this amazing opportunity if it wasn’t for this little blog of ours. I know, WEIRD, EH?!
I therefore decide to put my recent experience to use and write this post explaining the ways in which I think a blog can help you bag the perfect job. Whether you’re actively job hunting and don’t know whether your blog is worth mentioning, a student who’s planning their future career, or just wondering how your blog can help you in the wider world, hopefully you’ll find something useful in here. So, how did my blog help me get my job, and how can yours help you?
It Makes You Stand Out
We all known that job hunting is HARD, and it’s important to try to make your CV stand out from other applicants. One of the most basic benefits of having a blog is that it helps to set you apart from your fellow candidates. Not only does it make you look like a legit person who has a real hobby other than ‘reading, socialising and breathing oxygen’, but it also gives potential new employees something that they can look at as a physical example of your work. Which brings me smoothly onto my next point…
It Showcases Your Skills
The majority of us love blogging so much that we don’t actually realise how much work we really put into them, or what skills we’re developing along the way. Along with the obvious writing and creative skills you’re putting to use, having a blog will probably also mean that you’re familiar with basic HTML, can use social media to promote yourself, have used analytics software and have formed professional relationships with brands – and that’s to name only a few. It’s important to recognise how much you actually do as part of this hobby, and identify which skills can be transferred into the job role you’re going after
It Shows You Know and LOVE the Industry
This one was particularly relevant for me. I was actually completely under qualified for the job I went for, and know for a fact that it was this blog that piqued the employer’s interest in me. It’s one thing to go for an interview and tell them how passionate you are about fashion or beauty – it’s another to really prove it. Having a blog that you have worked on independently, in your own time, for no reason other than that you genuinely enjoy it, is worth so much.
As well as showing that you really are interested, it also (hopefully) shows that you understand the industry, are up-to-date with what is going on in it, and are also a part of that industry in your own right. As a blogger, you’re likely to have connections with hundreds of other bloggers as well as PRs – and this is also something that works in your favour when trying to join a company.
It Shows You Have a Personality
Putting aside all of my above points, don’t feel like your blog should primarily act as an online portfolio. While it’s great for it to showcase your slick writing skills and flair for photography, it’s also true that employers do want well-rounded individuals and a blog can be a way for them to get a feel for who really are. Admittedly when I knew that my soon-to-be-employer had read my blog, I went into a mild panic. Did she read the post where I said I wanted to punch all of my colleagues in the face? Or the one where I called myself a bellend? If she did though, then it obviously didn’t put her off; and it also meant that I went to my interview knowing that, despite my uber-professional demeanour, they also had a rough idea who I was as a person and so I felt a bit more relaxed. Some brands also value a bit of personality and humour, especially if you’re going for a job role that might involve using their social media, so don’t be afraid to be yourself (unless you’re a boring bellend… that was a joke, see?)
HOWEVER, Here’s What Might Not Help…
By now you might be thinking that your blog is your one-way ticket to career heaven, and it’s time to dedicate your CV and interview chatter solely to your little blogging baby. But WAIT. In my two recent interviews, both interviewees have asked whether my blog could in any way interfere with my role. That was something I had never considered employers thinking about, but if you’re waffling on about how many thousands of followers you’ve got, the awards you’ve been nominated for, and how your blog is your main passion, then of course some employers are going to wonder whether your blog comes first.
Be clear in your CV, cover letter or interview that while you love blogging, it is a hobby. And that while you’ve learned a lot of skills from blogging and are keen to bring these skills into your job, it is not something you plan to pursue above and beyond the job you’re interviewing for. Don’t make them think you’re so hot shot that you’re going to be running off to join Vogue at any moment (unless you’re interviewing for a job at Vogue. Then that’s probably okay).
I hope you have found this post remotely useful! If you have any other tips for how your blog can help you find a job, then share in the comments below!
(Image Source: Pinterest)
SEO Tips For Fashion & Beauty Bloggers Part 1: SEO and Your Blog
Good day you lovely lot! Today we have something very different than our usual fashion witterings for you. Since we started our little blog back in May, we’ve noticed a lot of talk about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and you all seem pretty interested to know more about it and how you can apply it to make the most of your blog.
Lauren and I work in a marketing agency and SEO is a big part of our daily jobs, so we thought we could put a couple of posts together to give any of you who are clueless about it a very basic overview. I will state that we’re both in the early stages of our careers, and so aren’t claiming to be in any way absolute experts in the field. Our own blog isn’t even SEO’d as much as it should be, mainly because we can’t really be bothered and like to do this more for fun. But there are a few simple steps that we follow to add some SEO benefit to our blog that you can also do to your own.
This first post is going to contain SEO tips in relation to your own blog, but we also have a second one planned. That will be focused on how SEO agencies are approaching bloggers, and what you need to know about sponsored posts, do-follow links and all that jazz – this is something else which we’ve seen spoken quite a lot about on Twitter and various sites recently, and so can help clear up one or two points there too!
So without further ado, let’s get this motherbitch started.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. To put it basically, SEO is about making your blog as search engine-friendly as possible. Ever wondered why some sites always appear at the top of the search pages in Google? SEO is the main driving force behind this.
The two main prongs of SEO are on-page optimisations and off-page optimisations. On-page, as the name suggests, is everything on your blog that can help Google to ‘see’ you and rank you higher in results. Off-page is what goes on outside of your own blog that can still help you, such as having links to your blog on other people’s websites and blogs.
What Can You Do?
Choose Your Title Posts Wisely
You fashion and beauty bloggers are a creative lot, and something we all see a lot are blog posts with imaginative titles. Song lyrics that sum up your mood or outfit are nice from a creative point of view, but don’t help you much in terms of SEO. Try to include some keywords in the title of your posts. For example, if you do a review of the Barry M Gelly Polish, then title your post ‘Review: Barry M Gelly Polish’. We know it’s pretty Snoresville, but people search Google using those words and so your blog is more likely to come up in the results. Quite a bit of our traffic comes from search engines, and we think this is largely down to our boring-but-literal titles.
Also, think about how you personally use search engines. A lot of searches start with phrases like ‘how to’ and ‘what do’, so incorporate these into our post titles if you can. For example, if your outfit post features you styling a pair of dungarees then titling this post ‘How To Wear Dungarees’ or ‘What to Wear With Dungarees’ could really help you.
Include Some Keywords
Similarly, you should try to include a few key phrases within the body of your post. If you want your review to rank higher, then including a few instances of the phrase ‘review of [product]’ ‘[product] review’ can help. This doesn’t have to be difficult or impact on your writing style – just an introductory sentence such as ‘Here’s my review of [product]’ can help.
Avoid the temptation to start over-stuffing keywords into your posts though. ‘Here is my [product] review. I hope you like my review of [product]. I enjoyed writing this [product] review. [Product] [product] [product] REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW’ will make Google HATE you (nothing personal, Google just hates people very easily).
Guest Posting
A lot of beauty and fashion bloggers love guest posting on one another’s blogs. Not only is it a great way to reach a new bunch of readers and spread word of your blog, but it’s also got SEO benefit. Search engines take into account how many sites link back to your blog – it’s generally considered that the more sites linking to you, then the more important your blog must be, and so the higher you’ll rank. So writing a guest post for someone else and linking back to your blog is really useful.
However, there is a focus on quality not quantity. Spamming sites with your link won’t get you anywhere – in fact, sites and blogs that have a lot of backlinks from really low-quality sites, or ones that are completely irrelevant to your niche, can be penalised by the big G (Google, not God… we don’t know where he stands on spam).
Use Your Google+
Some of you may have Google+ and dismiss it as the most boring and useless of the social media accounts. Most boring? Definitely. But most useless? Definitely not. There’s a lot of buzz around at the moment that suggests that the more authoritative someone’s G+ profile is, the higher that whatever they write will rank. This is because they’ll be seen as somewhat of an ‘expert’ in their field, so Google will push their posts to the top. Linking your G+ account to your blog can make your face pop up in results pages, like this:
Yes, I do feel famous sometimes.
Other Resources
We hope you’ve found some of these tips useful, and feel free to share this post out to other fashion and beauty bloggers who might be a little baffled by this SEO business. There are a few other articles dotted around the net that you might find helpful:
Business 2 Blogger – Simple SEO Tips for Bloggers
Pro Blogger – SEO Tips for Bloggers
If you want to geek up and find out more about SEO in general, then this Wikipedia article is a good place to start, while the Beginners Guide to SEO can give you a really in-depth learning.
Stay tuned for our Part 2!